Adam Corn Mar 7, 2018 (edited Jul 9, 2019)
With streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music now mainstays of the music industry, there's a wealth of great video game music to be found there as well. So much that it can be hard to keep track of everything that's out there, which is what this post is about.
I've compiled all the great game music on Spotify I can find on STC's "Game Music Best" playlists. The Game Music Orchestral & Instrumental Best playlist has the largest number of tracks (and listeners), but I encourage everyone to also check out the Chiptune & Game Synth Best and other playlists for great OSTs and impressive official and fan arrangements in all genres.
You can access everything from Soundtrack Central's Spotify profile:
https://open.spotify.com/user/soundtrackcentral.com
Here's a sample of what's out there.
Western game music
- Most major studio OST releases from Microsoft, Activision, EA and more (Uncharted, The Witcher, Halo, Kameo, Viva Pinata, Dragon Age, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War)
- Several of the major Western-produced arranged albums (Final Symphony & Symphonic Fantasies, Distant Worlds, The Greatest Video Game Music)
- A huge number of indie OSTs (Shovel Knight, Journey, Braid, Ori and the Blind Forest, Shatter, Cuphead, Celeste)
- A similarly large number of fan arrangements, many of which are released as singles instead of albums (the playlists are your friend here)
Japanese game music
- Almost every Final Fantasy series OST from Square Enix (Spotify playlist here)
- Just about every OST and arranged album from Falcom (Ys, Sorcerian, Xanadu, Zanmai, the Falcom Specials, you name it)
- An impressive assortment of Sega OSTs (Nights, Sonic, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, OutRun, Rez Infinite)
- Lots of Capcom OSTs (Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, more)
- A few dozen SNK OSTs, including Metal Slug and their fighting series
- The Metal Gear Solid OSTs and anniversary collections, and a good dozen Castlevania OSTs from Konami
- Some random surprises (Winter's End: I Am Setsuna, The Last Guardian, Kirby 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert)
Unsurprisingly the Japanese game studios have been lagging behind when it comes to streaming music, but with Spotify slowly picking up steam in Japan and Apple Music also released there, I expect several more Japanese publishers to eventually come around.
If everyone could post here with any favorites and noteworthy releases I've missed I'll do my best to update the playlists accordingly. The focus here has been on Spotify as it's what I personally use, but I welcome anyone to chime in on how Apple Music or other streaming music services fare as well.
)